


Trusting Your Heart

by secondalto



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-18
Updated: 2013-10-18
Packaged: 2017-12-29 18:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondalto/pseuds/secondalto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint needs to learn to trust his feelings again. But Darcy gets impatient.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trusting Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fandomfrolics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomfrolics/gifts).



While the idea for the Halloween event had seemed ridiculous at first, Clint found himself having fun. There were thousands of kids swarming the conference room, many of them dressed as the Avengers themselves. It made him smile to see Tony grinning and mugging with tiny Iron boys and girls. Cap, Steve he reminded himself, would spend his time quietly conversing with each and every child. Thor, Bruce and Nat all seemed to be doing well.

Clint saw all these kids too, as well as his fair share of Hawkeye, Robin Hood, Katniss, and Link costumes. He had just finished signing a photo for a mini-Widow when he glanced over to see who was next. What he saw confused him and made his heart twinge in a really weird way. The girl couldn’t have been more than four or five, she was dressed in a deep blue-green dress with elaborate decorations, her head a wild mess of red curls and she clutched a tiny little bow, the quiver on her back full of equally tiny arrows. He kind of recognized the costume, but couldn’t place the name of the character or the movie.

“She makes a really cute Merida,” whispered a voice in his ear.

He turned to see a curvy brunette standing behind him. He saw her SHIELD badge and turned back to the little girl, flashing her his widest smile. Her mom was with her and he talked with them for a moment, coming around from behind the table to talk with the girl at her level. Pictures were taken and photos signed and both mom and girl wandered off happy. There was no one else in his line at the moment, so he sat back down again.

“You know,” the brunette said, “people on the internet say that if you and Natasha had a girl, she’d look just like Merida. I think they’re wrong.”

Clint turned again. She was familiar too. He frowned. “Who are you?”

“Seriously?” she chuckled. “The man who supposedly sees everything can’t remember me?”

“No, but given everything that’s happened the last few months, the memory ain’t what it used to be.”

She gave him a small smile. “I heard, sorry about all that. Anyway, Darcy Lewis, level one SHIELD agent. And now I have to take you back to meet with some other kids. The Make-a-Wish people are really strict about protocol.”

She waited for him to stand and wave to the others. She walked with him down the corridors of the hotel.

“Lewis,” he said, frowning. “Wait? Foster’s intern? From New Mexico? How’d you end up with SHIELD?”

“Give the Hawk a cookie, he remembered,” she teased. “After Puente Antiguo I went back to college. Phil made sure I got my six credits.”  
He made no comment about the waver of her voice at the mention of Phil. No one was over what had happened.

Darcy continued. “Anyway, as a graduation present, he sent along an i-pod. It wasn’t the one that had been confiscated, but it had all my songs and playlists plus a ton of others. I also got an offer to be an intern for the US ambassador to England. How could I turn that down? I kept in touch with Jane, in fact we were talking when the news of the invasion hit. That’s when we both realized that Phil had gotten us out of the country. He really was a great man.”

“Don’t have to convince me,” Clint said.

“So after all that, we raised hell when we got back to the States. Sitwell was the Agent in charge of my debrief and he invited me to join SHIELD as a professional wrangler. I take care of Jane, Bruce and Tony specifically and the rest of you in general. This whole Halloween shindig was my idea,” she grinned.

“Great idea. I think we all needed to be in touch with people who appreciate what we did, do.”

“That’s why I proposed it. Here we are, go make some really special kids happy,” Darcy said, ushering him into a room.

Clint just nodded, somehow knowing she’d be there when he was done. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Darcy swallowed around the lump in her throat as Clint interacted with the Make-a-Wish kids. She wasn’t going to cry. It would be completely unprofessional of her. She also ignored the way his kind smile got to her. And the less said about his very yummy arms the better. No, she was not going to fall for Clint Barton. Nope. Not all. Then he was hugging one of the kids and she was gone.

Damn the man for being all sexy and awesome. He was wrapping up with the parents and she took a deep breath to get back into professional mode.  
Oh sure the Avengers were a whole host of gorgeous but for some reason Barton really got to her. When she’d signed on to be their keeper, she’d been given access to most of the files, so that’s how she knew he’d been in New Mexico, why she’d teased him earlier. But overall she got the impression he was more than his secret identity. She pushed all of that aside as Clint shook hands with the last set of parents. She took in a deep breath and pulled on her professional face.

“What’s next?” he asked as he came up next to her and followed her out of the room.

“Nothing,” she smiled. “You’re done. The others are finishing up so I get to escort you to the garage and go on my merry way.”

“Happy to be rid of us?”

“You have no idea,” she breathed. “I enjoy my job, don’t get me wrong, but the planning and executing of this event has been my entire existence for two months. Now I get a week off and I plan on making the most of it.”

They reached a bank of elevators and got into one when it came. Darcy stood at the back, looking at the number, ignoring the fact that Clint was staring at her. She could have made a smart remark, but decided that silence was better. She really did need to keep it professional if she wanted to make it to Level Two. The car dinged and the doors slid open. Darcy checked and escorted Clint out into the garage. He unsuccessfully tried to cover a laugh with a cough.

“Something funny, Barton?”

“No, Lewis. But I hope you know I can kill a man and I don’t need my arrows to do it.”

“I’ve read your file, but this is my job, so let me do it.”

They walked up to where the cars were waiting. Darcy nodded at the agents and turned to Clint.

“And now I leave you in the capable hands of these guys.”

“Thanks, just one question though, why me?”

“Why you what?”

“Why were you assigned to me?”

She smiled wide. “Cause I asked to be. Later, Barton.” She turned and walked off, just knowing that he was watching her. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Clint did watch her walk off, mentally shaking himself. There was something about her and if he was maybe five years younger…. He shook his head and saw that Thor was now making his way to the car. 

“Brother Hawk, was that Lady Darcy I spied with you?”

“Yeah, it was.”

“You were following her departure closely,” Thor said a deeper meaning in his words.

Clint laughed on a sigh. “She’s in no danger from me, Thor. I don’t think we be a good fit.”

“Why not? She is a fine warrior, having bested me with her lightning. She now helps us and works with the agency of SHIELD as befits one of her station. I think you would make a fine couple.”

“I’m too old for her for one,” Clint said. 

“Darcy has just past her twenty-third year. I know this to be young in Midgardian years but she has seen and done much in that time.”

Clint turned and considered Thor. The god was almost family to Darcy; he knew that much from Thor’s ramblings and tales. How could he explain it to the guy without sounding like a complete asshole?

“After….What your brother did….”

“You still blame yourself for your actions during your captivity,” Thor said softly. “Clint, you should not. You were not yourself. Darcy would see that, understand it. I know she has done things, has ‘baggage’ as she calls it. It should not impede either of you from seeking comfort with one another. I have found that being with my Jane has made me stronger, wiser. Do not let yourself think that you are unworthy of a woman such as Darcy.”

Thor was philosophical, who knew? Clint almost answered but the elevators opened again, letting Tony and Steve out. Thor leaned in again.

“Think on it, brother. But know if you hurt her I shall be most unhappy.”

Clint winced and then plastered on a smile as a second elevator let out Nat and Bruce.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I sort of met someone,” he blurted out to his therapist a week later.

Doc Johnson just sat there and looked at Clint, expecting him to expand on the statement. Fucker didn’t even write anything down, just sat there looking at him expectantly.

“I kind of knew her before all…the stuff. I met up with her again last week.”

Doc just nodded and made a small note. “And does this woman know anything about…?”

“Yeah, she does. She was in Puente Antiguo.”

“Ah, yes. And how are you dealing with it?”

Clint ran a hand through his short hair. “I dunno. I’m not. We talked a little, more about her than me. But I know she knows what happened, she has access to my file.”

“That’s not exactly the same, Agent Barton. You only saw her the once? Any chance of seeing her again?”

“Lots, she’s going to be working with my team. Surprised I haven’t seen her before now.”

“How does seeing this woman make you feel?”

“Fuck if I know. Look, I never talked to her before, just saw her, and listened to her. I was invisible over there. And then when I met her at the shindig last week, it was…she made me feel…I don’t know. I liked her; I remember liking her attitude while I was keeping an eye on her and her boss. But fuck if she didn’t make me feel a bit like a perv.”

“Why’s that?”

“There’s like a thirteen year age difference.”

“That doesn’t stop a lot of people, Clint.”

“Darcy’s practically family to Thor. Hell, he threatened to kill me if I made her unhappy. After encouraging me to go after her.”

Doc jotted a few more things down on his notepad. “So Thor thinks you should be involved with this woman, Darcy.”

“Yeah,” Clint sighed. “He told me I shouldn’t keep blaming myself for what went down with his brother.”

“This is one of the things we’ve been working on. Our time is almost up, but I have an assignment for you.”

“Of course,” Clint said. He was getting used to having homework.

“Have one interaction with this Darcy that is not work related. See how that goes. You need to start trusting your feelings more. I’ll see you in a month.”

Clint just nodded, but inwardly he thought he was fucked. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She’d been back for a few weeks now and hadn’t seen Clint anywhere. A question to Thor revealed he and Tasha had been sent out on assignment. She hadn’t had much time to dwell on missing him and his fabulous arms because Jane had been in uber-science mode. When she’d finally made a small breakthrough Darcy had convinced her to take a well-deserved break, which meant she could take one too. So here she was at her favorite coffee shop where she didn’t have to say anything because the barista’s knew her so well.

“The usual?” Kevin asked.

“Unless you got the pumpkin spice lattes still hanging around,” Darcy said, smiling.

“Sadly no,” came the reply.

Darcy went over to wait for her drink. When it came up she got ready to pay but Kevin shook his head. 

“Already taken care of, guy in the corner covered for you, just said to wait for when you came in.”

Darcy wondered who it could be, taking her drink and turning to see Clint lounging in the corner, sipping his own drink. He grinned at her as she came over.

“So, how was the middle of nowhere?” she asked, sitting across from him.

He shrugged. “The usual. Mostly boring with intense action at the end. But we got what we went for.”

“Thanks for the coffee. How’d you know I’d be here?”

“The Hawk sees all,” he teased.

“You seem to be in fine form today,” she said, looking him over and sitting across from him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“It’s a thank you.”

“For what?”

“Figure it out, Agent Lewis,” Clint said with a grin. He stood up, winked at her and walked out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Clint was proud of the fact he managed the exchange with Darcy without making himself look like a fool. It actually made him happy to see her happy, maybe the doc was onto something. He’d have to figure out ways to be around Darcy as much as possible. And given her current assignment that wouldn’t be hard.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*

Clint kept showing up at the coffee shop, paying for her drinks. He never said why. On days she was stuck wrangling reports, he’d bring her one. They started hanging out at lunch, sitting next to each other during movie night, hell he even danced with her once at one of Tony’s many parties. She got the feeling that he might like her. She definitely liked him. She just didn’t know what to do about it.

She was neglecting her job for ten minutes when Natasha showed up at her desk.

“Can I help you, Agent Romanov?” she asked, her voice not wavering once, go her.

“Clint won’t come to you,” Natasha answered.

“Huh?”

Tasha sat on the edge of Darcy’s desk, friendly like. “I’ve known Clint for too long, he’s only had one other serious relationship in his life.”

“With you,” Darcy supplied.

“Fuck no,” Tasha laughed. “We screwed like rabbits for a few weeks and figured out if we tried to be serious we’d kill each other. No, she was another agent. But they broke up a few years ago. Now with what he went through with Loki….”

“Doesn’t trust himself?”

“You catch on, Darcy. So you need to find a way to step up. If you’re interested in him, that is. I assume I don’t have to give you the speech?” Tasha said, raising one perfect eyebrow.

“I hurt him, you kill me,” Darcy said. “Got it. Thanks.”

Natasha just nodded, got up and walked off. Darcy sighed. Well she had his partner’s blessing, now she just had to figure out how to get past Clint’s stubborn nature.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Clint wondered who the fuck it was knocking at his door at o-dark thirty in the morning. If had been Avenger related JARVIS would have alerted him, so this was something different. He cursed the person on the other side for disturbing some really great dreams about Darcy. He had half a mind to tell them to fuck off when he opened the door to the object of his dreams.

“Darcy? What the…?”

Instead of answering she just grabbed the shirt he was wearing and pulled him down. She then proceeded to kiss the hell out of him. He started to kiss back, after flailing around for a moment. Just when he was getting turned on by the mere taste of her, she let go, pushing him back.

“What the fuck was that?” he asked.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said, arms crossed over her chest, emphasizing her assets and the fact she wasn’t wearing a bra.

“So you decided to come and kiss me?!?!?”

“Fuck, Clint. It was either that or kill you,” she growled, frustration radiating from her in waves. “Look, we’ve been metaphorically dancing around whatever is going on between us and my feet are tired. I like you. I think you like me. You’re probably afraid to do anything, so here I am putting myself out there. Wanna go out some time?”

There were a thousand reasons why he should say no, but if that kiss was anything to go by, there was really only one answer to her question.

“Barring any Avenger related things, seven on Friday good for you?”

She gave him a bright smile and leaned in closer to kiss him again. “It’s a date.”


End file.
